TA •Chapter 80

After he walked out of the corridor in Jiang Yuduo's apartment building, he could clearly see his dad's car parked by the newsstand at the corner up ahead.

Jiang Yuduo's kind of "training" that you really couldn't think too hard about had, in some ways, made him much tougher than an ordinary person. Jiang Yuduo had meant that there was someone else in the car, but right now, Cheng Ke couldn't even tell whether that blurry shape in the driver's seat was actually a person…

He looked back at Jiang Yuduo's window. From this angle, the curtains were drawn, but he knew Jiang Yuduo was standing behind them, watching him.

Just as he was about to turn and head for the car, a finger poked out through the crack in the curtains and wagged at him.

Cheng Ke laughed, and warmth spread slowly through his chest.

The weather today was pretty decent, and the wind wasn't as bone-chilling as it had been a while ago. He tugged at his collar and walked toward his dad's car.

He was only a few meters away when he could finally see that there really was someone else in the car. The driver was Lao Hu, whom he knew, and the man in the passenger seat was one of his dad's assistants who went with him whenever he went out. In truth, he was just a bodyguard. His mom had always felt that directly calling them bodyguards was inauspicious, and might even bring trouble, so they had always just been his dad's assistants.

As Cheng Ke kept walking toward the car, the assistant in the passenger seat got out and stood beside it, watching him.

Cheng Ke didn't look at him. He stopped at the rear door and looked at the window.

A few seconds later, the window rolled down, revealing his dad's face. When he saw the plaster cast on Cheng Ke's hand, he frowned. "Get in the car and we'll talk. It's windy."

"I'm not cold," Cheng Ke said.

"Talking with the window open makes me cold," his dad snapped.

The assistant came over, opened the door, and gestured for Cheng Ke to get in.

Cheng Ke sighed and bent down to climb inside.

"Young Master," Lao Hu, the driver, turned his head and greeted him. "You've lost a lot of weight."

"Really?" Cheng Ke touched his face. Lao Hu had been with his dad for twenty years, and the two of them worked together with perfect understanding. That greeting was nothing more than a reminder that once he left home, he was sure to suffer. He smiled. "I thought I'd gain weight instead. I've been in a really good mood these past six months."

"A really good mood," his dad said with a cold laugh. "Is this how you wanted to end up?"

"How have I ended up?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Look at what you're wearing. Look at your hair. And your hand…" His dad stopped there, probably remembering that his hand still had something to do with Cheng Yi. "Right now, you fit right in here. If you told me you were a thug shaking people down for protection money, I wouldn't be surprised at all!"

Cheng Ke looked himself over. He was wearing Jiang Yuduo's jacket, and because he had to fly, he had on jeans underneath. He really did look… not nearly as proper as before, but he was comfortable.

As for his hair, it was fine too. He had gotten it cut at the little barber shop downstairs at the end of the year. To save trouble, he had kept it pretty short. Cheng Ke thought the barber had done a decent job.

Actually, everything was fine. His dad simply didn't like it, first because he was different from before, and second because he didn't match what his dad wanted.

The first point, fine. The second point… he'd lived like this for more than ten years out of the years he'd been alive.

"Did you want to see me for something?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Your boyfriend, the one with a mental illness, is that right?" His dad didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

Cheng Ke had already prepared himself for this question, so he wasn't surprised when he heard it. He glanced toward Jiang Yuduo's window. "If you absolutely have to put it that way, then I guess you could say so."

"I'm asking you if he is or isn't!" his dad barked.

"He is," Cheng Ke replied.

"You like men, and nobody's been stopping you, right?" his dad said. "You want a boyfriend, and nobody's ever said anything, right?"

Cheng Ke said nothing.

"But you can't go this far, can you!" his dad raised his voice and shouted, "Have you been living so comfortably that you have to make other people miserable!"

"I wasn't messing around," Cheng Ke said. "My life before wasn't exactly comfortable either, and I never wanted to make anybody miserable."

"I'm not here to listen to your excuses," his dad said coldly, leaning back.

"I'm not making excuses," Cheng Ke said. "I've lived this long and barely even had to argue properly. Where would I get the skills to make excuses?"

His dad fell silent for a moment, picked up his thermos, and took a couple of sips. When he set it down, he said, "Come home."

Cheng Ke froze.

He had never expected those words, never even imagined his dad would say something like that.

If this had been a few months ago, back when he couldn't get the water heater to work, couldn't light the gas stove, got lost in the supermarket, and had convinced himself he was just a useless failure, then maybe those words would have made him thrilled.

But now, after everything that had happened, after tasting so many different kinds of bitterness and sweetness, after having already started a new life, hearing those three words left him feeling nothing at all.

Only a faint sense of disappointment.

He knew why his dad had said it. It wasn't because he wanted him to come home, or because he was willing to accept such a useless son. It was simply because he couldn't tolerate the fact that Cheng Ke had gotten himself a mentally ill boyfriend.

Even though he could understand it, no family would accept something like this.

"Your mom hasn't been sleeping well at night because of this. She's always worried something will happen to you," his dad said. "Xiao Yi looked into it. This person's condition isn't as simple as ordinary mental illness!"

"Looked into it?" Cheng Ke laughed lightly. "How did he look into it? And what right did he have to look into it? If I went and looked into his girlfriend, would you all think that was only natural too?"

"If there weren't anything wrong with him, who would go out of their way to pay attention to some hoodlum living at the bottom rung of society!" His dad stared at him. "What the hell is wrong with you now?"

"Nothing," Cheng Ke frowned. "If that's all you wanted to talk about, then let's leave it at that. I'm almost thirty. I take responsibility for my own life."

After saying that, Cheng Ke opened the car door and prepared to get out.

"Your life is just going to be living with a mental patient in a place like this, in this messy, trashy environment?" His dad's voice turned anxious. "This is the life you chose over never coming home again?"

"What kind of life am I living? Do you know? Have you ever asked me? Have you ever come to see?" Cheng Ke said. "All you know is the so-called life Cheng Yi told you about. If you really want to know how I'm doing, you can ask me yourself, hear it yourself, see it yourself."

After saying that, Cheng Ke got out of the car.

"Xiao Ke!" The car door behind him slammed, and his dad got out too. "Do you even understand what I'm saying?"

Cheng Ke looked at him.

"You grew up without any schemes, kind-hearted, soft-hearted! No matter how willful you were, you always had backing, someone by your side!" his dad said. "And now? Where does your confidence come from, thinking you can be all alone like this! Hanging around in this kind of place with this kind of people and not get cheated! Not get hurt?"

Cheng Ke didn't answer. He just kept looking at his dad.

These words surprised him. Even though his dad had said them with contempt, this was indeed the first time in all these years that he had heard his dad describe him with words like that.

Without schemes.

Kind-hearted.

It was unexpected. Aside from useless, worthless, unmotivated, drifting through life… all those contemptuous and disapproving labels, his dad could actually define him that way too.

He could even hear concern in his dad's voice.

Too unexpected.

"Dad," Cheng Ke said with a soft sigh, "I've been here for quite a while now. It's not… as bad as you imagine. The friends I've made here…"

"What friends?" his dad interrupted. "What friends? I thought maybe once you got out there, you might actually amount to something. And what happened? You've disappointed me beyond belief! Besides Xu Ding, do you even have one decent friend? That car washer? Or that long-haul driver? What kind of life could you possibly make for yourself?"

Cheng Ke was stunned.

The car washer? That was probably Chen Qing.

The long-haul driver? Was that Da Bin? Was Da Bin a long-distance truck driver?

He didn't know. Nobody had ever told him, and Da Bin had never mentioned it.

How much had Cheng Yi investigated about him?

Since he had investigated so thoroughly, why hadn't he told his dad that the shop Cheng Ke had opened with Xu Ding was about to start business?

Was it just to prove to his dad that whether he stayed home eating and waiting to die, or came out and lived on his own, he was still nothing but a failure?

"You found yourself a mentally ill boyfriend, and you're living in a dump like this! Is this the sight you're showing me, this glorious life you've made for yourself!" his dad shouted, pointing at him.

The words were so sharp they made Cheng Ke frown.

"I don't care about anything else," his dad said. "You just tell me, what are you planning to do about that boyfriend of yours?"

"Stay with him while he gets treatment," Cheng Ke looked at his dad and let out a soft sigh. "You have two sons. One of them has disappointed you. At least there's still another, so it won't be…"

Cheng Ke didn't finish.

A heavy slap came down hard across his face.

All his life, he had been scolded and berated by his parents plenty of times, but he had never been hit.

That sudden slap made his whole body sway. Stars burst across his vision, and he had to catch the car door to steady himself.

"Until today, I had never been disappointed in you. Before you insisted on being with this mental patient, I had never been disappointed in you," his dad panted, pointing at him. "But starting from this very second, I am truly disappointed in you!"

Cheng Ke stayed silent, only feeling a burning sting across his face. Even the cold wind blowing against it did nothing to ease it.

"No matter how perfect you think your life is," his dad said, "I don't want to hear anyone say that the young master of the Cheng family is running around with some lunatic!"

"I'm planning to be with him, so whether he's crazy or not, I get to decide," Cheng Ke gritted out. "Who I'm with, what kind of life I live, where I am, what I say, what I do, all of it, is my call."

The fire in his dad's eyes was almost burning red. After staring at him for a few seconds, his dad opened the car door and got in.

Just as Cheng Ke was about to turn and leave, the assistant who had been standing nearby suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Cheng Ke's right hand in its cast, and pushed it downward.

After his right hand had been injured twice in a row, Cheng Ke had been extremely careful. When he was suddenly grabbed, his first reaction was to let his body go with the force, trying to avoid fighting and injuring it again.

But the assistant immediately caught his shoulder and shoved him hard into the car.

Cheng Ke had already been focusing all his attention on his right hand. He had no time to react, and with his right hand unable to exert force, he was shoved into the car.

Then the door slammed shut.

When he tried to open it again, Lao Hu locked it.

"What does this mean?" Cheng Ke turned to look at his dad, the shock in his heart impossible to describe.

What the hell kind of plot was this, some domineering CEO nonsense with my dad in it?

"Drive," his dad said.

Lao Hu started the car and drove forward.

"I don't want to hear your slogans," his dad said, staring ahead. "And I don't care who gets to make the decisions. You're my son, and I will not let you do all this nonsense!"

"Young Master," Lao Hu said as he drove, "go home first and cool off for a while. You've never been around these kinds of people since you were little. It's too easy for them to trick you, to fool you… Right now you're just hotheaded…"

"I'm not hotheaded at all right now," Cheng Ke said in a low voice. "I'm freezing all over."

His dad said nothing, only gave a cold laugh from the side.

"Stop the car," Cheng Ke said.

No one answered, and the car didn't slow down.

When Cheng Ke came out, he hadn't brought his phone, so now there was no way for him to call Jiang Yuduo.

He watched Jiang Yuduo's window draw closer and closer. His hands were starting to go numb from anxiety, and his heart was like an egg frying in a pan.

Sizzling.

He had told Jiang Yuduo to watch him from the window, but he had never imagined things would develop like this, and Jiang Yuduo would definitely listen to him, would watch from the window as he got slapped by his dad and then shoved into the car and taken away.

He didn't dare imagine Jiang Yuduo's state right now. He was afraid to the point that his whole body felt like it might explode.

Why had he made Jiang Yuduo stand there and watch!

The distance from the newsstand to Jiang Yuduo's place was very short. The car hadn't even really picked up speed before it had reached the entrance to the corridor.

Five more meters ahead was the intersection, and if they turned right, they'd be back on the main street with the bar.

Cheng Ke stared fixedly at the corridor.

His mind was such a mess he couldn't think anymore. He didn't know whether he wanted Jiang Yuduo to come out and stop the car so he could get away, or whether he wanted Jiang Yuduo not to come out and get into some conflict with his dad.

But there was no one in the corridor. No one came out as the car passed.

Cheng Ke let out a breath, but then immediately tensed up again.

Why hadn't Jiang Yuduo come out?

Under these circumstances, with Jiang Yuduo's personality and style, he should have already rushed out when Cheng Ke got slapped. But even now, Jiang Yuduo still hadn't come out.

Why?

Had something happened?

"Stop the car!" Cheng Ke shouted, feeling like his throat had split open from how hard he yelled.

At his shout, the car gave a sharp screech and came to a sudden stop.

"President Cheng," the assistant in front turned around.

"What's going on!" his dad's voice was full of shock.

Cheng Ke withdrew his gaze from the corridor entrance and turned to look forward. He froze.

Several pieces of wood had been thrown into the middle of the road, and each one had long iron nails sticking out of it. Just as he looked over, a few more pieces of nailed wood flew out from the corner and landed in front of the car.

Then several people walked out from the corner, all holding wooden clubs, and went straight to block the front of the car.

Leading them were Chen Qing and Da Bin, with seven or eight of Jiang Yuduo's younger brothers following behind.

"These are your friends!" his dad shouted at him, pointing forward. "These are your thug friends! Right?"

"Back up," the assistant said to Lao Hu.

No way in hell were they letting you back up.

Cheng Ke added the sentence in his head, then turned around to look behind them.

Sure enough, a few more people had come around from the direction of the newsstand, each carrying all kinds of random junk. There were chair legs and chair backs that had been ripped apart, and wooden boards and planks with nails in them, clearly things picked up from a construction site… Cheng Ke really admired how they had managed to find such a pile of junk in such a short time.

The group walked into the middle of the road, tossed the stuff down with a clatter, and stood there without moving.

Lao Hu had reversed about two meters when he also stopped.

Jiang Yuduo came out of the corridor.

When Cheng Ke saw Jiang Yuduo, perfectly unharmed and wearing that usual arrogant expression of Third Brother's, he finally relaxed completely and leaned back against the seat.

It was fine as long as he was fine.

As long as nothing had happened, anything was fine.

Jiang Yuduo was empty-handed, carrying nothing he could use as a weapon. He walked straight up to the side of the car, planted one hand on the roof, and knocked on the window.

"What does he think he's doing!" his dad looked outside. "Call the police!"

"Let him go!" Jiang Yuduo shouted from outside, raising his voice. "The surveillance here's been broken for a week. By the time the police get here, I'll already have smashed your car to pieces!"

The assistant took out his phone and started dialing.

For the first time, Cheng Ke discovered that he could be this fast, this lightning quick.

He snatched the phone from behind in one motion and slammed it against the car window hard. Once, twice, three times. The screen shattered like ice flowers.

He threw the phone back to the assistant. "Open the door. I want out."

"I don't know what you all are trying to do," Jiang Yuduo said, still braced against the roof, "but this is my turf. If you're taking my people away from here, I have to agree to it. If I don't, nobody's going anywhere."

The window rolled down halfway. His dad looked at Jiang Yuduo. "Do you know the consequences?"

"I never care about consequences when I do things," Jiang Yuduo said. "If you think you can do something to me, come at me."

His dad stared at Jiang Yuduo.

"If you want to take Cheng Ke away, you'll have to deal with me first," Jiang Yuduo said. "But since Cheng Yi already looked into me, you should know how I grew up. It won't be that easy to deal with me."

"Crazy," his dad spat out two words.

"I'm counting to three," Jiang Yuduo said. "Let him go."

The people in the car looked at him.

"One, two, three." As soon as he finished counting, Jiang Yuduo stepped back and kicked hard at the car window.

The half-open window shattered instantly into pieces.

"Let him go!" Jiang Yuduo thrust half his body through the window and shouted straight into his dad's face.

The assistant immediately turned around and tried to grab him, but Jiang Yuduo didn't even look back. He reached out with one hand, caught the man's wrist, and twisted down hard while forcing it into place.

The assistant's hand was twisted and pinned against the glove compartment, his expression contorted in pain.

"I'm a huge problem," Jiang Yuduo said. "The kind money can't solve. Don't provoke me."

His dad held his gaze for a while, then lifted a hand.

Lao Hu unlocked the car.

Jiang Yuduo pulled the door open and yanked Cheng Ke out of the car.